Why?

Oh listen, dear child - become wise;

point your life in the right direction.

Proverbs 23:19

 

It is a news story that has become far too common - a young person enters their school and opens fire with a gun.  This time, it is in Baltimore, it is the very first day of school, the gunman is a 15-year-old male, only three shots were fired, his only victim is a 17-year-old boy who remains in critical condition, and the gunman was overpowered by a school guidance counselor and another teacher.  The other students in the cafeteria thought that the first gunshot was a popped bag.  The second shot sent them to diving under the tables and fleeing through the doors. Those are the bare facts and they leave us with a million questions:

• Where did the young man get the gun?
• How did he get the gun into the school?
• How did he conceal it until he got into the cafeteria?  The shooting didn't happen until 10:45am
• What was his motivation?  He apparently did not know the young man that he shot
•  Was he depressed?  Angry?  Bullied?  
• What kind of hatred could so disregard the safety of every other human being in the room?
• Did he have friends?  Did they know what he was going to do?
• What about his family - Mom, Dad, siblings?  
• Did his parents have any inkling of what was going on in his head?
• Were there any tell-tale signs that were missed in the hectic press of life?

All of these questions and many, many more will be pondered by police, school officials, the media, and the families connected to that school.   This young man's life will be gone over with a fine tooth comb;  the gathered information will be dissected, analyzed, and pontificated over.  But in the end, all we will have learned are clues as to why this young man took the action that he did.  In cases like this, there are always far more questions than there are answers.

Please join me in prayer for the young man who was shot, for the young man who was the shooter, for the brave guidance counselor who stopped the gunfire, for the families of both young men, for the other students at the school and their worried parents, and for all those who must search for answers to the question, Why?